The Psyche Behind The Character

[Undead Medic]

I have now added a "Spoiler Button" to the editor button-bar:

 

 

[sheepfriend]

I had another weird idea: How would Sherlock be while adolescence? I have thought about a little dialoge between Sherlock and his father:

 

Father: Sherlock! Would you please cut the lawn!

Sherlock: No! Why shoulld I ever do this?

Father: Because erveryone has got an assignment in this household!

Sherlock: Let's make a Deal! I don't have to cut the lawn, so I'm not going to tell Mom that you have betrayed her!

[Dr. Anderson]

So -- you're saying he was a typical adolescent male?

 

Unfortunately for the trained forensic professionals with whose work he persisted in interfering, that particular adolescent male never bothered to grow up.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Apropos of the "will Lestrade get fired" discussion (posts 17 - 20) back on Page 1, aely has posted (on another thread) a link to an interesting and extremely detailed blog write-up on that very question.

 

(For discussion of that blog entry, I suggest we go to aely's thread.)

[besleybean]

I do wonder if he and John will work together.

[Carol the Dabbler]

I hope they do. From what little we've seen of John and Greg interacting, they seem to get along in a very natural way, and I'd like to see more of that.

 

In fact, when John tells Mrs. Hudson at the end of "Reichenbach" that he can't go back to Baker Street just yet, I wonder if perhaps he's staying with Greg, who is apparently living alone otherwise at that point. They could probably both use the company. (Of course, the last time we'd seen them together, Greg was arresting John ....)

[aely]

They could probably both use the company.

Exactly. I'd love to see them working (and living?) more closely together.

 

I think John might be resentful of Greg at first, but he's not blind (neither of them are) and I bet they'd gravitate toward each other just to discuss odd things each has noticed without being able to explain to anyone else or involve anyone they'd rather not (like Mycroft).

[Carol the Dabbler]

They're each kind of a fish out of water at present -- Greg is presumably suspended, and John is also without his main job (i.e., taking care of Sherlock). And, as you say, they could try to figure things out together.

[Caya]

Resurrecting this thread because The Straight Dope had an interesting column today about boredom as a psychiatrical problem, possibly being a brain-chemistry issue. That would explain a thing or two about both Sherlock and John ...

[Julia Mae]

Resurrecting this thread because The Straight Dope had an interesting column today about boredom as a psychiatrical problem, possibly being a brain-chemistry issue. That would explain a thing or two about both Sherlock and John ...

 

It reminded me of Moriarty.  From the article:

 

"However, while it’s unlikely you can be bored to death in the sense that sixth-graders imagine, boredom may indeed result in your premature extinction — possibly by your own hand.

 

We know this because of a fellow known to science as Mansur Zaskar, whose strange tale was reported in the clinical literature a mere 13 years ago. Mansur, who emigrated from Pakistan to Canada as a child, had twice tried to commit suicide because, he said, he was too bored to live. Here’s a quote:

 

“I feel like I’m not alive in this moment in time, as if I am a spectator to life and to myself. I feel detached from others around me. I feel I lack a sense of purpose, and completeness. Most of all I feel extremely bored. Bored of everything. … No matter what the activity is it leaves me feeling unfulfilled. I’m bored of thinking, of talking, of feeling, bored with being bored. … What possible difference does it make whatever I do? … I wish so much that I could cease to exist, just vanish away.”

 

Terminal ennui.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Yes, I think a "sense of purpose" is very important to a person's well-being.  I believe that's primarily what John was missing at the beginning of "Study," and what Sherlock was missing at the beginning of "Hounds."  Sherlock would probably say he was missing a "challenge," but that's the same thing, isn't it?  A sense that you are needed?

 

Oh, interesting -- I'm reading the article, and it says the only times Mansur felt better were when he was using drugs (marijuana, LSD, etc.).

 

 

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Sometimes a person can feel a real disconnect between themselves and, simply, everything. The drugs would give then a sense of euphoria. temporary, but maybe long enough to lift them through the worst of the depression. Of course, for many, the drug becomes the thing and they are lost to life anyway. Until something happens to give them purpose or...as Mansur Zaskar said....they simply fade away....and die.

 

Sherlock had certainly been a drug user and it may have been this feeling of disconnect and depression would be one of the triggers. Being a manic depressive would only make this feeling of being "outside of life" deep and dark. If he was indeed bi-polar, getting hands on certain drugs would be no problem what so ever.

 

A sense that you are needed?

For John it sounds right. He was a trained doctor and a soldier and right now he he was neither. Just a wounded warrior with no life and no purpose.

[Caya]

 

Terminal ennui.

 

 

Oooh, good point ... I was thinking of Sherlock and his drug history before he discovered detective work to fill the void, or John and his left hand, but you are right ... that fits Moriarty to a T.

 

Now I almost feel sorry for the poor bugger ... no wonder he was so obsessed with Sherlock if his brain chemistry was so out of synch that this was the only thing that made him feel alive (doesn't excuse what he did, of course).

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I can understand the feelings and thoughts of suicide. It's the fact that he planned to ruin another life...and consequently touch many others...in the process that really, really irks me. Off your self if you must. But don't take anymore lives with you.

[Julia Mae]

I can understand the feelings and thoughts of suicide. It's the fact that he planned to ruin another life...and consequently touch many others...in the process that really, really irks me. Off your self if you must. But don't take anymore lives with you.

 

I think we may find that in destroying Sherlock Moriarty would be fulfilling what we might call a family obligation.  Which also doesn't excuse his behavior, obviously.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

I think we may find that in destroying Sherlock Moriarty would be fulfilling what we might call a family obligation

True. If Mofftiss does hold true to canon and Moriarty was indeed "the spider in a web" and if Moriarty knew that his time was short, then Sherlock could not be left behind to take down that organization.

[Caya]

Regarding Sherlock and Moriarty, Geny reblogged this gem today:

 

That gif-set is ... almost eerie.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

They are very much like the flip side of the same coin. Both share the same genius and so suffer from many the same psychological traits. The only difference is Sherlock has a better handle on how to control his darker impulses and turn his energies to the "side of the angels".

[Caya]

True. Plus, Sherlock has John. Who knows where he might have ended up without John's friendship and guiding influence.

 

On the flip side of that coin, who knows the kind of person Moriarty might have become with a friend like John (if Sebastian exists in this incarnation, he can't have helped much). Andrew Scott remarked in the Casebook, iirc, that, while he was careful not to play up that side too much, Moriarty was a desperately lonely and unhappy person.

 

Also, kudos to both actors for this kind of subtle mirror-play, that's an amazing achievement in and of itself.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Also, kudos to both actors for this kind of subtle mirror-play, that's an amazing achievement in and of itself.

It is almost as if they were biological twins. And, believe it or not, there is Holmesian literature out there that puts forth the idea that Moriarty was an alias used by a Holmes sibling. Maybe Sherringford.....not sure now. I would have to look it up. I think it is mentioned somewhere in the William S. Baring-Gould Annotated books.

[Caya]

Please do! I must admit I'm not a Holmes scholar so I've never heard of that theory. Gives off some Star Wars - everyone is related - vibes but it would make a certain amount of sense for classical Holmes; less so for BBC Sherlock, imho - Sherlock would have recognized Jim from IT, and Moriarty would not have needed Mycroft for the biography details.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Unless Sherlock was the youngest sibling and Sherringford/Moriarty left home before he was born. It happened in my family. The youngest sister was born 20 years after the oldest. That would be a bit of a stretch there being only 7 years between Mycroft and Sherlock but if Sherringford was showing early signs of bi-polar/schizophrenic/psychotic/psychosis then he could have sent away before Sherlock's birth and while Mycroft was to young to have formed any kind of sibling recogniction/attachment. And they being of a rather high born state and not a close family, the boy may have never been told that he was a Holmes.

[Bakerstreet Irregular]

Leslie S. Klinger made it easy to find as he posted a lot of popular theories for the events behind "The Final Problem" at the end of that story.  One being that "Moriarty" was a middle Holmes sibling.....not Sherringford but strangely enough....another James.....who's genius turned to crime. Mycroft and Sherlock conspired to get him out of England, break up his organization without subjecting him and the family to scandal. He would return later alive but broken and harmless.

 

I found another interesting tidbit. Even back when Holmesian and Sherlockian scholarship was in it's infantsy, there were people who took a look at "The Final Problem" and tagged Mycroft as leaking information to Moriarty against Sherlock during the lead up to the "Reichenbach Falls" just as he did in Season 2. I would love to get a peek see at Mr. Moffat's and Mr. Gatiss's libraries.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Conan Doyle really had a thing for the name "James," didn't he -- two Moriarty brothers and Mrs. Watson's pet name for her husband.  Hmm, maybe Sherlock's first impression in "Great Game" really was correct -- "Moriarty" is John Watson's secret identity!

 

[Caya]

So *this* is where Sherrinford came from!

 

You see, there's a pen&paper RPG called Call Of Chtulhu, and while this game is set in the prohibition-era US, there was a supplement called Chtulhu By Gaslight that looked at the horrors lurking behind the facade of the 1890s in London (I ran a group in this setting many years ago, and we had a blast). The scenario in this rulebook, The Yorkshire Horror, had your group try and help Mycroft and Sherlock clear the name of their elder brother Sherrinford, who managed the family manor and had been accused of murder. I remember liking the concept of Sherrinford a lot back then, but until now had no idea that this was part of Holmesian literature in general (as I said, not a scholar ).

 

But then, this Sherrinford can't well have been Moriarty, he'd be busy with the manor and such. So the scenario you proposed, with an instable sibling being quietly sent away to some facility, seems more likely. Still not sure I like the idea that every brilliant person in Britain comes from the same family but it's certainly an interesting take on the Sherlock-Moriarty similarities.

 

And yes, the Moffat-Gatiss library must be awesome .